Men Disappearing From Their Cars: Mount Rainier

Mount Rainier is perhaps the most majestic volcano in Washington State. The mostly white-capped mountain can be viewed from almost every major city on the westside of Washington State. In photos of the Seattle skyline, you will see Mount Rainer in the background looming seemingly just out of reach of the city.

For people outside of Washington State, Mount Rainer--the largest mountain in Washington State--is overshadowed by Mount St. Helens due to the famous eruption in 1980. However, when it comes to true crime, Mount Rainer may be the mountain that carries more secrets in the depths of its craters.

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I grew up seeing Mount Rainer nearly every day. Heading East on the small highway in my town, it would look like it was just in front of you. The mountain is still about 65 miles away as the crow flies or an 80-mile drive. I've been to the mountain, normally entering from the Elbe/Ashford side. It's strikingly beautiful and feels like looking up at the skyscrapers of New York City.

Despite its beauty, we all know Mount Rainier is posed to blow one day. It could destroy several small cities and cause catastrophic damage if the lahars reach Tacoma. Seattle would see more inches of ashfall than snowfall for the entire year.

This dichotomy between beauty and danger is what draws us to live in its valleys and along its rivers. When Pompeii was destroyed, Naples remained at the feet of Vesuvius.

Mount Rainer National Park sees about two million visitors each year. There are bound to be mysterious disappearances and murders. For example, within my lifetime, Park Ranger Margaret Anderson was killed in the line of duty when a fugitive fled into the wilderness of the park in 2012. University of Washington professor and anthropologist, Sam Dubal, disappeared in 2020, climber Eric Lewis disappeared in 2010, and photographer Chet Hanson disappeared in 1997. These are just a few.

However, even outside of the park, the mountain seems to take its victims.

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The "men missing from their cars" phenomenon is a well known trope within the true crime community. In the recent few decades, multiple young men have gone missing from their cars all around the United States. It is nearly impossible for all of these cases to be connected, but it is a disturbing trend all the same. To name a few of the most notable disappearances:

• Bryce Laspisa, California
• Brandon Swanson, Minnesota
• Daniel Robinson, Arizona
• Jason Landry, Texas

Now, people going missing from their cars isn't new. And, it isn't just men. There are also several women missing from their cars. However, many of those cases were solved, bodies found, or had very differing circumstances.

With the men missing from their cars phenomenon, the circumstances are oddly similar. The men are all under 40--usually college age--and no bodies found. Usually, the theories range from foul play to a horrible accident. But, nothing but their cars and the items in them are ever found.

I went onto the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) to look through Washington State's unsolved disappearances. If you look through the entire list, some well known names will appear: Misty Copsey, Georgann Hawkins, Logan Schiendelman, Nancy Moyer.

Several other cases with little information also appear. Looking through some of the most recent cases, I came upon the following:

• Michael Fortenberry, 31, missing from Carbonado, Washington in 2020
• Nathan Lerner, 30, missing from Carbonado, Washington in 2021
• Austin Chase, 36, missing from Carbonado, Washington in 2021

Weird, but this could all be a weird coincidence.

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Carbonado, Washington is a small town in Pierce County, Washington with a population of under 1000 people. It sits 11 miles from the Northwest entrance to Mount Rainer National Park. While the Carbon River entrance (the Northwest entrance) is the least trafficked of all the entrances, it does still bring a fair amount of out-of-towners through the tiny old mining town of Carbonado.

The entrance is known for having some of the roughest roads, especially when compared with the Nisqually entrance which features paved roads all the way to Paradise, the historic inn turned visitor's center.

To get to the Carbon River entrance, visitors take State Route 165 through Carbonado, over the Fairfax Bridge, and finally meet up with Carbon River Road which takes them into the park.

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Three thirty-year-old white men going missing near Mount Rainer National Park may not be overly uncommon. Yet, my eye still caught the dates of last contact for Nathan Lerner and Austin Chase. January 6, 2021 for Lerner and January 13, 2021 for Chase.

One week apart.

These are the only missing persons cases out of Carbonado right now. And, considering its small population, three is a lot. I felt compelled to look more into them. When you click into their profiles on NamUs, some similarities began to appear:

• All three of the men's cars were found in the vicinity of the Fairfax bridge
• No (known publicly) evidence of injuries in the cars
• All belong to similar demographics

Michael Fortenberry

31-year-old Michael Fortenberry more commonly went by his middle name Zachary. He lived with roommates in Bonney Lake, Washington, one of the larger towns about a 20 minute drive from Carbonado. After telling his roommates he was going to the laundromat, he did not come for a few days.

According to The Vanished Podcast episode on this case, his roommate was not alarmed at first when Fortenberry did not come home that night, or for a few days. It was not uncommon for him to leave overnight or for a few days. However, after discovering Fortenberry's false teeth still at their place and it having been multiple days, his roommate contacted his family to see if they had heard from him.

Nobody had heard from him in days.

His sister files a missing persons report. On that same day, police get a call about a suspicious vehicle sitting on the Fairfax Bridge in Carbonado, Washington. Witnesses reported seeing the car on the bridge since the day Fortenberry went missing. A local witness came forward and claimed to have spoke to Fortenberry on the bridge that night.

Michael's family and police searched the area. Though, it is densely wooded and difficult to search and nothing was found in initial searches. Michael's father took possession of the car and everyone assumed he would show up at some point.

Yet, the location where his car was found was uncharacteristic of Fortenberry who wasn't one to venture out to the great outdoors. He was also last seen wearing Dickey's brand black jacket and potentially was wearing slippers. This is certainly not what you would need for a drive like this in February in Washington at least not if you planned to get out anywhere or do anything specific in the area.

Unfortunately, as days pass, the man who last saw Michael Fortenberry on the bridge, his story becomes more disturbing. He passed Micheal on the bridge outside of his car. The man--who lives just across the bridge--has seen many people contemplate suicide on the large, high bridge crossing over the Carbon River.

He yelled, "Just do it, man!"

The witness was confronted by Fortenberry's family and apologized. He claimed to be having a bad day and did not mean it seriously. He also claimed that Fortenberry was looking up at the full moon and he continued to see his car on the bridge for the next four days.

The family alerted Pierce County Sheriff who did look further into the lead. In fact, police stopped searching believing he either died by suicide or left voluntarily and did not want to be found. Many in his family do not believe either theory is true.

Looking into the suicide theory one point against it is that Fortenberry was very afraid of heights. If he were going to harm himself, would he choose a way that would be so scary for himself personally?

Michael does have a history of Tourette's syndrome, anxiety, depression, OCD, and drug abuse. He had been sober for several years at the time of his disappearance, though he did have medical problems associated with years of drug use. His family also claimed that his anxiety prevented him from living a full life and it severely impacted his daily life.

Fortenberry has a daughter that according to his mother he absolutely loved and cherished. In the aforementioned podcast, his mother explained that Fortenberry wanted to get custody of his daughter and had been actively working towards this at the time of his disappearance.

His family also recounted a mysterious medical event where he experienced delusions and confusion. It is not known exactly what happened, but at the hospital, it was confirmed not to be drug related, but he had dangerously low sodium levels. This can cause neurological symptoms like those he presented with, but it could be absolutely confirmed that this was the cause of his hospitalization.

His family wonders if his disappearance was caused by another similar episode. Michael's aunt said on The Vanished Podcast, "So I wonder if that might've happened to him again. I'm just wondering if Zachary had another bout of that delusion and is out there somewhere, you know, still delusional."

Fortenberry's ex-girlfriend also said that they had been to the Fairfax Bridge together when they were young. The podcast questions whether he may have gone to clear his head or ended up there due to these past memories.

Michael Zachary Fortenberry was 31 years old when he disappeared in February of 2020. He has blond or strawberry blond hair, blue eyes, and several tattoos including a boombox on his neck and a Yoshi tattoo on his hand. If you have any information, contact the Bonney Lake Police Department at 253-863-2218.

Nathan Lerner

On January 6, 2021, Nathan Lerner was released from a hospital in Auburn, Washington. Though, an hour later, the hospital called him telling him to come back. He never did.

Lerner had just moved back to Washington from Alaska and was staying with a family friend in Bonney Lake. At the time of his disappearance, he had only been in Washington for about two weeks. He had been a kayak tour guide in Alaska. His mother, in an article for Real Change, said, "“He absolutely found himself. He had friends, he was happy, he was in great shape. He wasn’t using. He said to me after about three weeks, ‘This is what they should do with people like me! Being outside, exercise, [...] a job where I can earn money, good people, doing something great in nature."

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic ruined this amazing opportunity and Lerner asked his parents to help him move back to Washington State. It was more complicated than most moves because he was a felon and could not legally enter Canada. His dog, Shady, could not fly.

Eventually, he ends up on a ferry from Whittier, Alaska to Bellingham, Washington. An Instagram post from December 22, 2020 features pictures and videos of Shady and the accomodations on the ferry.

Nathan struggled with homelessness and heroin addiction in Washington. His felony and time in jail was related to drug-related charges. When he was released, he relapsed, but with the support of his parents found new hope in Alaska.

When Nathan showed up to the ER at the Auburn hospital on January 6, 2021, he claimed he had an infection and was in pain. Nathan was not admitted to the hospital, given a prescription for antibiotics, and a dose of Dilaudid. When he checked in, he told the medical staff he was homeless and suffered with substance abuse. Yet, it seems, this did not factor much into the medical care he received.

Knowing he had been in the hospital and having not heard from him in days, Nathan's parents grew worried. His mother had the idea to call an abandoned car hotline, believing if he had overdosed, they would have been notified otherwise. His mother left a message with Nathan's license plate number with the King County Sheriff's Office.

Eventually, officials from King County called and confirmed his car had been found abandoned and was towed to a lot in Enumclaw, Washington. After digging, Nathan's mother discovered his car had been located about a half mile south of the Fairfax bridge with the door open and the keys in the ignition.

It is likely that the Lerners were not informed because there was no body and it was a presumed suicide. Finding the car of a suicide victim on or near the bridge is not wholly uncommon. For the officers who first investigated the car, it was a routine case.

Nathan's parents and authorities do believe Nathan jumped off the Fairfax Bridge. Though, this cannot be conclusively determined with no body to confirm this.

Since his disappearance, Nathan's patients protested outside the Auburn hospital demanding to know why their son was released early. They ended up being the driving force in changing hospital policy to when someone is administered a drug but not admitted, they will remain in observation for at least an hour.

It is believed that as the painkiller wore off and Nathan experienced the mental and physical pain that originally sent him to the ER, the depression and hopelessness led him to the Fairfax Bridge that night. Still, we will likely never know for sure what happened.

In a grim moment of foreshadowing, Nathan's last Instagram post shows him driving towards Mount Rainer in late December. As I flipped through the photos, I also recognized a dog park in Bellingham, Washington that I recognized from the railroad tressle bridge that stretches over the trail.

Nathan Lerner was last known to be in Carbonado, Washington where his car was eventually found abandoned. He was 30 years old at the time of his disappearance. He has long brown hair that he often wore in a bun and blue eyes. Nathan has several tattoos. If you have any information pertaining to Nathan Lerner's disappearance and presumed death, contact the Pierce County Sheriff's Office at 253-798-7530.

Austin Chase

One week after the disappearance of Nathan Lerner from the Fairfax Bridge in Carbonado, Buckley Police pursued a silver Ford Escape until it went over the Fairfax Bridge. Later, the vehicle was found over an embankment. A rescue mission was launched, but when crews reached the car, no driver remained.

The car belonged to then 36-year-old Austin Chase, a father of three from the Waller, Washington area. Since the crash, there has been no sign of Austin and no activity on social media or his bank accounts.

Out of all three of these men, Austin's car was recovered the closest to Mount Rainer National Park and there is a possibility he went missing inside the park itself. Still, this disappearance does not make sense to Austin's friends and family. While he had struggled with substance abuse in the past, he had been clean for ten years when he went missing.

Some believe he may have begun using again just before his disappearance. However, this has never been conclusively confirmed and there are no other signs of drug involvement.

At the crash site, there were no obvious indicators that the driver of the vehicle was injured. Thus, there is also no way to confirm that Austin himself was driving the vehicle during the police pursuit. Many of his friends and family members believe it was not Austin driving and police could not confirm either because the traffic stop was not completed.

Austin's disappearance is considered suspicious and there are widespread rumors that he was murdered. However, no body or any other trace of the body has been found. Though, the area around the embankment is particularly hard to search according to locals on a Reddit thread about the case.

According to an article in the Courier Herald, Austin's mother believed he inadvertently witnessed a crime and was murdered over it. She also believes Austin was not the one driving his vehicle at the time of his disappearance.

Two years after Austin's disappearance and there are no more answers than at the beginning of the investigation. At the time of his disappearance, Austin was 36 years old. He was approximately 6'1" and 180 pounds. Austin had closely shaved brown hair and brown eyes. If you know anything about the disappearance of Austin Chase, please call the Pierce County Sheriff's Office at 253-798-7530.

Analysis

Looking at these three cases, it feels almost unbelievable that they could be unrelated. Three men of similar demographics and backgrounds all going missing in the same general area within one year? Though, wilderness areas are easier to disappear into and never be found.

According to Missing NPF, a database for people missing in National Parks and Forest lands, there are currently 417 entries within the database. Though, I could only find listings from as early as 2018. The database includes people who have been found and those who are still missing.

Additionally, with natural hazards like animals and rough terrain, it makes sense that the wilderness and National Parks may have an inordinate amount of missing people when compared to other areas. Still, these three men are the only cases in Carbonado entered into NamUs. The National Park itself has two other active missing persons cases.

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I am simply a true crime fan and cannot pretend like I know or understand what happened to these men. I empathize with their struggles with mental health and sympathize with their addictions. Regardless, none of these men deserved to go missing and four children have been left not knowing where their fathers are.

Personally, I do not believe that the cases are necessarily connected. For sure, Nathan Lerner's case seems very different from the other two and his family seems to accept that he died by suicide, so I am inclined to as well. The other two are less certain, but their cases are different enough, I'm inclined to say that they are also not connected.

Still, for all of these men to go missing so close together and under similar circumstances only feeds into the men missing from their cars mythos. It is odd and since Austin Chase, no one else has gone missing and unfound in the area.

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Mount Rainier--traditionally called Mount Tahoma by the indigenous peoples--is a part of the culture for people who live or grew up in Western Washington. On a sunny, clear day, you might hear, "The mountain's out!" or you might notice schools in small communities along the Carbon River performing lahar drills.

Like the magma deep within the mountain, the volcano holds the secrets to what happened to these men. I hope that one day for their children, family, and friends conclusive evidence is found.

*All research sources linked throughout the article.